Maintain
Vacuum truck services
Suction from the surface for full sumps, flooded pits and silted lines, with the material taken away rather than flushed downstream.
Maintain · Drainage services Maintenance is only worth buying for the parts still worth maintaining.
A strata maintenance program puts a strata corporation's shared drainage on one schedule: catch basins, trench drains, sump pumps, and the perimeter and storm runs still worth maintaining. We scope it from a condition assessment, run it through one point of contact, and write up each year in a record council can use for budgets and the depreciation report.
What maintenance can and cannot buy you
Maintenance does not save a pipe that is already failing. A run with separated joints or a settled bed will need repair, and flushing it on a schedule changes little. What a program protects is the rest of the site: the basins, drains, pumps and runs that rate as sound today and stay sound if the silt and roots are kept down. These are the failures a scheduled visit is built to catch.
- Catch basins fill through the autumn. Leaves and grit settle in the sump below the outlet until it is full. A full sump stops trapping and passes sediment into the storm line. On the visit, each chamber is measured before it is emptied. On camera, sediment shows in the outlet run.
- Trench and ramp drains silt up. Grit carried in on tires collects in the channels at ramps and parkade entries until water ponds instead of draining. On the visit, debris fills the channel; on camera, sediment lines the outlet pipe.
- Sound runs silt up and draw roots. Silt left in a run holds water, and roots follow the water into the joints. A run that rated sound can start to fail early. On camera, silt lies along the pipe floor and roots show at the joints.
- Sump pumps fail untested. A float sticks or a pump wears out between storms, and nobody finds out until the next heavy rain. On the visit, the pump and float are checked, the system is tested under load and the discharge line is inspected.
Runs rated for repair are named in the program agreement and left off the maintenance schedule. Council still has to budget for them, as repair projects with their own dates.
Signs a strata site is ready for a program
None of these means the drainage has failed. Each one means nobody is tracking it.
- A parkade ramp or entry that ponds after an ordinary rain.
- A drainage contract that lists visits but not which runs are worth maintaining.
- Units reporting water more than once, or complaints that move around the site.
- No record of when the catch basins were last emptied or the trench drains last cleared.
- A sump pump that has never been tested under load.
Priced on the scope the assessment justifies
Two complexes of the same age and size can need different programs, because their condition ratings and catchments differ. The scope, and so the price, follows from a short list of facts about the site:
- The number of buildings and how the site is laid out.
- How many chambers there are: catch basins, trench and ramp drains, sumps.
- How many runs the assessment rates as worth maintaining, and how many are already on the repair list.
- Cleanout access, and whether any lines need locating first.
- Whether the site holds a recent drainage assessment, or the program starts with a strata drainage assessment.
- Parking, notices to residents, and any work outside normal hours.
Council gets the scope and price in writing before work starts.
Covered by our Built Better Warranty.
See details of the Built Better WarrantyStrata drainage, council duties and the depreciation report
Under the Strata Property Act, a strata corporation must repair and maintain its common property and common assets. Its bylaws can make owners responsible for some limited common property, but drainage shared by the whole site usually stays with the corporation.
The province adds a second duty: a depreciation report on a fixed cycle. How drainage evidence feeds that report is set out on our strata drainage assessment page. A buried pipe is hard to judge by eye, so between reports a yearly drainage record gives whoever prepares the next one dated, measured condition to work from. We supply the drainage data; we do not prepare the report.
The BC Building Code 2024, Article 9.14.6.4, calls for a catch basin wherever runoff from a driveway is likely to collect or run into a garage. On a townhouse site with a shared driveway, those basins are usually common property, so keeping them working falls to council.
The City of Burnaby's foundation and surface drainage guide is written for Burnaby, but its two-pipe layout names the parts a program looks after on a house or townhouse site. Across North Vancouver, West Vancouver, Vancouver and Burnaby, the pipe under one complex can be older clay tile, early-generation plastic drain tile or modern PVC, sometimes more than one of them.
Scoped from the assessment, not from a template
A program covers the parts of the site the condition ratings say are worth looking after. Depending on the site, a year includes some or all of these:
- Catch basins measured and emptied, by hand or with a vacuum truck depending on how much has built up. How a basin clean is done is on our catch basin cleaning page.
- Trench and ramp drains cleared before the wet months.
- Sump pumps tested under load, with the float and the discharge line checked. More on sump pumps.
- A camera pass on the runs rated worth maintaining, using the same equipment as a drain camera inspection.
- Flushing where the footage shows a run needs it, by hydro jetting matched to the pipe.
- One point of contact for the site, and one written record a year.
A program year can include checking downspout connections, keeping the cleanout inventory current and walking surface water where units have complained.
Excavation is scoped and quoted as a separate project, not covered by the program. So are the runs on the repair list. Before council signs any program proposal, ours included, ask which runs it leaves out and why.
What council receives, and a document you can hand to an owner
Councils turn over and managers change, so the record is written for council. The yearly program record belongs to the strata corporation. A program year runs in five steps:
- Scope from the assessment. The condition ratings decide which runs and chambers go on the schedule.
- Set the calendar. The year's visits are planned around the buildings, ahead of leaf drop and the wet months.
- Attend and measure. Chambers are measured and emptied, pumps tested and runs filmed.
- Write the yearly record. What was done, what changed since last year, and what is still on the repair list, in plain language.
- Present it. On request, we take the record to a council meeting or the AGM and answer owners' questions.
Each year's record sits beside the last, so council can answer an owner who asks why the drainage line in the budget is what it is.
Already on a program with someone else? Send us the agreement and last year's report, and we will tell you whether the scope matches the site's condition.
A program is scheduled work, not an emergency service. If water is coming in now, call or text (604) 210-3892. To start a program, send us the site details: the building count, roughly how many chambers, and whether council holds a drainage assessment or a depreciation report. Drainage Pro scopes the year from there.
Related services
Maintain
Annual drain camera inspections
Your drain runs filmed every year and set beside last year's footage, so slow change shows up while it is still a finding, not a failure.
Inspect
Strata drainage assessment
Condition-rated drainage reports for strata councils and property managers, with footage or a site observation behind every rating.
Related reading
Guide ·
What is a perimeter drain?
A perimeter drain collects groundwater at the footing and carries it away from the foundation. How it works, how deep it sits, and where the water goes.
Questions we get asked
Do we need a drainage assessment before a program starts?
Yes, and a recent one. A program is scoped from condition ratings, so without them nobody can say which runs are worth maintaining and which are already past it. We scope a program from a recent drainage assessment by another firm when it is usable.
Can we start with just the catch basins and sump pumps?
Yes, where the condition ratings support it. If the perimeter drains rate well, a program covering only the catch basins and sump pumps can be the right scope rather than a reduced one.
Who is responsible for drainage on common property?
The strata corporation. Under the Strata Property Act it must repair and maintain common property and common assets, although its bylaws can make an owner responsible for some limited common property. A program is one way council meets that duty for the drainage everyone shares.
What does a yearly record add between depreciation reports?
Between depreciation reports, a yearly record shows whether the drainage is holding its condition or slipping, with dates and measurements, so the next report starts from measured condition rather than an age estimate. We supply the drainage data; a member of a designated profession prepares the report.
What happens to the records if our property manager changes?
The yearly program record belongs to the strata corporation. A new manager starts with the full file: the schedule, the runs left off it for repair, and each year's findings.
Is excavation or repair part of the program?
No. Excavation is scoped and quoted as a separate project, not covered by the program. Runs on the repair list are budgeted the same way, as repair projects with their own dates. Before council signs any program proposal, ours included, ask which runs it leaves out and why.
Reviewed
We find the cause before we quote the fix
Tell us the address and what you're seeing — a backup, a wet wall, a smell, a sinking lawn. We'll tell you what the next step is and what it costs, before anyone digs. Not sure yet? Ask us a question first.